Remove a single iptables rule

November 17, 2014

How do you remove a single iptable rule from a large ruleset? The easiest way is to delete the rule by the chain-name and the line-number. Here’s an example.

~# iptables -n -L --line-numbers
Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT)
num  target     prot opt source               destination

Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT)
num  target     prot opt source               destination

Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT)
num  target     prot opt source               destination
1    ACCEPT     tcp  --  0.0.0.0/0            192.168.1.5      owner UID match 0
2    ACCEPT     udp  --  0.0.0.0/0            192.168.1.6      owner UID match 0
...
30   ACCEPT     tcp  --  0.0.0.0/0            192.168.1.5      multiport dports 11211
31   ACCEPT     tcp  --  0.0.0.0/0            192.168.1.5      multiport dports 11211
32   ACCEPT     udp  --  0.0.0.0/0            192.168.1.6      multiport dports 11211
33   ACCEPT     udp  --  0.0.0.0/0            192.168.1.6      multiport dports 11211
...

If you want to delete a rule in the OUTPUT chain, you can use the line-number next to it to delete it.

~# iptables -D OUTPUT 30

And poof, it’s gone!